Robin's Journey
by Falcongod
Summary: Robin leaves life with Batman to embark on a journey to defeat a hostile army on Tamaran. Along the way he will run into a mechanic, a goddess who controls the earth, a demon, the King of Beasts, and the Princess who leads the Tamaran army. AU
1. Chapter 1

"What do I have to do?" Complained the boy wonder, "What do I have to do to prove that I'm not a little kid anymore?"

Batman listened to Robin, but only barely. He heard the same old complaint every day of every week for the past year. Robin's persistence was almost at the point where Batman might consider it annoying.

"I refuse to have this conversation again. I simply cannot allow you to do something so reckless. Please, think it over." Batman cleared his throat and tried to change the subject. "There's a vial of non-ionized positrons that I want to play, eh hem, work with in the lab. You are welcome to join me if you wish to do so. If not, I ask of you to leave me alone."

Robin would not let his mentor off so easily.

"Oh sure, dodging the situation. That's real mature."

The only response he got was having the lab door slammed in his face. Robin grabbed the door handle then stopped himself. Following Batman into the lab would mean putting on a radiation suit. It was already hard enough to talk to Batman about this and wearing that sound-muffling spacesuit was not going to do him any favors. Nah, he might as well just bring it up another time, again. For now, he just wanted a little time to be on his own. Robin trudged through the Batcave towards the exit. He was old enough to take the Batmobile out for a spin, but he wanted to stay on Batman's good side as much as possible. Besides, it was nice out and Robin enjoyed taking evening strolls. He had already left the Batcave when it occurred to him that civilian clothes would have been less conspicuous.

"Oh well," its not as though many people will see him.

Robin took a look around. The secret Batcave entrance left him near the highway in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't a car or human in sight. All in all, it was the perfect place to take a walk. He turned right and headed down the highway. Robin walked for hours. He didn't think about his argument. Didn't think about anything at all. Instead, he just let his mind wander.

* * *

Hours later, Robin felt his stomach grumbling and saw that the sun was beginning to set, so the boy wonder decided it was time to start heading back.

It was then that it happened. Robin felt all the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He spun around and saw him. Robin couldn't see much detail in the fading light, but he was certain that there was indeed someone standing there among the trees. It was a man, completely hidden behind a dark, black robe. The man's face was covered by the auspicious hood he wore, so Robin could not tell whether or not the man's lips actually moved. All he knew is that he heard a unearthly, disembodied voice cut through surrounding air. It was only by supposition that Robin attributed the voice to the man.

"You are Robin? The superhero?" The peculiar voice spoke the questions rather than asked them. It was as if the robed man was confirming things he already knew.

"Perhaps I have some information that you will find useful. Deep in space there is an gathering army. It's a great tragedy, but if this army isn't defeated, earth will be doomed. Would you like to hear more?"

Robin had no interest at all in hearing what the lunatic had to say, but there was something in the unearthly voice that refused him the ability to say no. He could feel his head nodding up and down against his will.

"You were chosen by my master to stop this tragedy. Are you willing to shoulder that responsibility? Heh, of course you are. Head north through these woods. You will find a way to the hostile planet there. Worry not, the prophesies of war tell of your victory."

Robin regained his bearings. Was he really stupid enough to take on an alien army? And that was assuming he could trust the advice of the cloaked hobo he found in the woods. He looked south to the Batcave, then north through the woods. The robed man had already gone, but Robin could still sense that someone was still there. He looked all around him. Then, like it was being pulled up by a fishing line, Robin's gaze was lifted toward the heavens. There was some light leftover from the setting sun, yet a few stars could already be seen in the sky. One of them stood out amongst the others. It was shining brightly, but that's not the only reason why it seemed out of place. There was something else... Robin found himself drawn to this strange star as if it were calling to him; urging him northward. He knew that he would find the alien army on that splotch of light. He went north.

Robin's hike through the woods was rocky to say the least. He got surrounded by wolves when he stopped to take in his surroundings. Came face to face with a masked raccoon which was surprisingly vicious. Narrowly escaped a bear attack when he was going through a ravine. And nearly wet himself when had to cross a raging river. Once he finally reached the forest's edge. His spirits sunk as he saw that he could have just taken the highway. Grudgingly, he picked himself up and walked onto the elevated road. It looked like he was still a mile or two away from the nearest town. He also saw a man several paces ahead of him on the highway. Normally, Robin would have made a fuss about a guy who seemed to be half robot, but frankly he was too tired to care. All he wanted was a silent walk into town then maybe a nice bed to sleep in to recover from his wilderness trek. Fittingly, Cyborg slowed down so that the two could talk.

"Hey buddy. What's up? I thought I heard something behind me, so looked and there you were. So I said to myself, I should slow down and walk with him." Cyborg clearly could not tell that Robin wasn't in the mood for conversing, so Robin tried dropping a hint.

He mumbled something incoherently. It sounded like "God, when will he stop talking?"

Of course, Cyborg heard. "Good, then we can start talking!" Cyborg was glad to imagine hearing this.

"Boo yeah! I was hoping I wouldn't have to walk alone. You see, my car broke down a while back. Which isn't much of a problem I have tons of cars. Old fashioned cars, new age designs. Eco-friendly cars, Eco-killing cars, cars that are on the fence about ecology. It's great. I'm also a mechanic, but why bother fixing a car when you just use a new one, you know? Anyways, um, what was I talking about?"

Robin rubbed his eyes sleepily, "Sounds like you got quite the car collection there."

Cyborg got ready to begin another lengthy discourse. It seemed as though Cyborg was very interested in this subject.

"Not just cars. I've got all kinds of vehicles. Subs, boats, motorcycles, jet planes. All that good stuff."

Robin did his best to show some interest. He couldn't though, so he instead looked for a way to turn the conversation to be about him.

"Yeah, but I bet you don't have any spaceships."

Robin's smile soon faded when he heard Cyborg's response.

"Actually, I do. Those are the most fun to build. I have all kinds of replicas, not to mention some of my own designs."

Robin managed to cut Cyborg off before he could say more. "Yeah, but I bet none of them could actually make it into deep space. Speaking of which..."

"No, no, they can! Come with me I'll show you." Before Robin could object, Cyborg grabbed his hand and escorted him off the highway and towards some sort of high tech bunker. The highway was so deserted, and the bunker so secluded, that it probably laid dormant for hundreds of years before Cyborg stumbled upon it. They were still a short walk away from it when Cyborg said "Be prepared to see the coolest technology ever!"

"I really should be getting to the town. I'm on an important mission to find..."

Before Robin could finish, they marched through the bunker's doors. Robin was speechless. He wasn't much of a fan of jet engines and the like, but he had to admit. This stuff could blow him away. Polished chrome was everywhere. The different types of fancy looking vehicles were lined up in a perfect pattern that stretched as far as the eyes could see. The detailing in the chrome couldn't have been done better by Da Vinci himself. And that was just the wallpaper.

The machines themselves defied imagination. Wars have been started over lesser modes of transportation. Cyborg crossed his arms smugly while he waited for Robin's reaction.

"Well, what do you think?"

Robin didn't know how to respond. These automobiles made Batman's technologies look like child's toys. It was like he had spent all of his life eating food raw and then some fellow caveman comes along and casually says 'Oh hey, there's this great new thing called a microwave oven. You should check it out.' He couldn't believe it. There was everything. Even a particularly eye catching spaceship that seemed to have more roots from Mars than Earth. He was trembling in awe before the technologies. It was uncanny. Nothing ever caused him to be act this way, yet while he stood with the beautiful craftsmanship; he was shaken to the very core. It wasn't until the roof caved in that Robin realized an earthquake was happening. By then, it was far too late.

* * *

Cyborg had been aware of the shaking far before Robin. He had never experienced an earthquake before, but he still knew the safest in a collapsing building.  
Hiding under a door frame. Cyborg crouched down and prayed that he'd survive the disaster.

Robin did not have such a head-start on the unnatural disaster. Debris was already falling all around him when he started his sprint for the exit. Just as he was about to leave the building he ran into a huge obstacle.

If he left then everything in the bunker would be destroyed. Including the spaceship that he was hoping to 'borrow'. Was it worth escaping with his life if it meant that he couldn't go and destroy the army that threatened Earth? Such was the obstacle that Robin faced when he tried to leave. Also, for some reason Cyborg was crouching in the doorway and was blocking the path.

"Move! You two ton heap of-"

Cyborg was too wrapped up with self pity to hear Robin. He rained tears upon the ground and bellowed pleas to the fates.

"God! How could you do this to me? I'm special, don't let me die here!"

"Do not worry, you frightful mortals," Sang a light, airy voice. "I will not allow the earthquake to harm you."

Robin looked about the area for the speaker, but could only see a cloud of dust.

"Who are you?" asked he.

A jovial laughter echoed throughout the building. Robin spun his head around, but could not pinpoint its source. He would have searched for it through the rubble, but a frightened Cyborg was still clinging to his leg.

"I am the goddess of planet Earth. You may address me as Terra. I am always on your side. You may ask me anything."

Robin looked forward. He saw a girl who radiated kindness step forward. Robin's muscles relaxed and he looked down to see Cyborg loosening his death grip. With a wavering voice, and a bowed head, Cyborg addressed the self-proclaimed goddess.

"Thanks dudette, but why did you bother saving us? You should have preserved the technology! They were far more important than us! I cannot even bear to look at all this car-nage. My beautiful vehicles!"

Cyborg went on in further detail about the various cars that he loved most and the special names he gave to them. Nobody cared much about his plight and it is not even worth relaying word for word in this account.

However, his lengthy discourse did allow Robin to get a better look at the supposed goddess. She had golden yellow hair reaching down to her shoulder blades and sky blue eyes. This, coupled with the stern visage on her face, gave Robin more of an impression of the Russian alpha human than a deity representing earth. But Robin was sure that she had been wearing a smile before Cyborg started speaking. Furthermore, there was just something about her which reeked of the supernatural. For the same strange reason that Robin believed in the cloaked figure in the woods, he also believed in this 'goddess'. She may have looked completely human, but Robin would now see her as a deity. He wasn't sure how she convinced him so easily. Perhaps it was her heavenly tone. Perhaps it was because she was standing on a flying rock. Regardless, when Terra responded; Robin knew he was hearing the voice of a supreme being.

"Poor, poor humans. I am sorry. It is precisely because of the technology that I had to cause the earthquake."

"So," said Robin, "You didn't save us. You spared us." Though Robin was questioning how good this 'goddess' really was, Cyborg was more concerned about something else.

"Why!" He cried out "Why would you destroy such beautiful automotives? Why?"

Terra raised a hand and used it to silence the mortals.

"Perhaps that was a bit cruel of me. But I could think of no other way."

"No other way of doing what?" challenged Robin.

"No other way of making sure you stay on Earth where you belong." Answered Terra, her cheerful countenance no longer anywhere to be seen.


	2. Chapter 2

"No other way of making sure you stay on Earth where you belong." Answered Terra, her cheerful countenance no longer anywhere to be seen.

"Why should we stay on earth?" challenged Robin.

"Because I am goddess and I said so."

"Why should we listen to you?"

"Because I am a goddess."

Robin frowned. He would have to seize control of the conversation in order to win this argument. Luckily, Terra had left him the upper hand.

"But isn't there a gathering army deep in space?"

Terra's face twisted into an incomprehensible state. There is only one describe it, and that would still fail to capture the array of emotions in her expression. Try to imagine the contorted face that a politician makes when he visits a middle-school and the students start asking tough political questions. Now, keep that image in the back of your mind and try conjure up the face of a first-time parent. The parent comes home from work one day and his child greets him by asking about the birds and the bees.  
Got it? Good. Now merge those two faces together and you'll have a less exaggerated example of what Terra looked like. The goddess stumbled for words.

"How... who... who told you about the Tamaranean army?"

Robin tapped his left temple with two fingers. "I'm the student of Batman. I deduced it from your behavior."

"Wow, if he can deduce that..." Mumbled the holy defender of Earth, "Then maybe he IS the one spoken of by the prophecies."

Robin stepped forward, cloaked with newly found confidence. He stared straight into the goddess' eyes and spoke with an authority that challenged even hers.

"Why are you preventing me from fulfilling my duty of defeating this army?"

"Because, that army will not threaten you."

"Do you know that for sure?"

Weakening, Terra said "No," in a soft voice.

"If this army comes to earth, will we survive it?"

Terra shut her eyes and bowed her head.  
"No,"

"So why do you want us all to die?"

"I don't. The almighty powers will protect you."

"Will they? Or have you condemned us to a fate where we shall die?"

"Wait!" Interjected Cyborg, "Your going to destroy the cars AND us?!"

The two mortals stared intensely at the troubled goddess as they awaited her appeared to be on the verge of tears when she finally spoke.

"I cannot reveal that to mortals. Do not worry though. I shall do everything in my power to protect you earthlings."

Since she had nothing more to say, Terra sent a shockwave of dirt throughout the area. By the time it cleared, she had disappeared.

"She's lying!" announced Robin.

"I was thinking that too. Do you mind giving me a hand?"

Cyborg was knocked down by the blast of dirt and needed help getting up. Robin decided to give him the cold shoulder instead. The hero paced around. He was either deep in thought or trying to look at his eyebrows.

"Yes, but how can we be sure?"

Cyborg sat up and did a system analysis to find out why he couldn't stand. While punching in buttons on his arm, he noticed something that Robin would find useful.

"My mechanical ear and eye recorded the entire conversation. If you want, I can play it all back for you and have my systems analyze it."

"Nah, there's nothing that a machine can do better than a human's gut feeling." In truth, Robin just liked following his intuition and hoping it was right. It reminded him of what Batman seemed to do.

"Gee, thanks dude."

It took a moment before Robin realized that Cyborg was offended by the comment. It took longer before he realized that he should give Cyborg an apology.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"You sure can," replied Cyborg. "You can help me get to my feet."

Robin apologized again and lifted the tin man off the ground. Cyborg was a lot lighter than he looked.  
"Must be the fancy metal he's made of," thought Robin.

Cyborg thought: "He sure is a lot stronger than he looks."

Cyborg took a few test steps and saw that everything was working fine. He then said.  
"So you were gonna fly off and save the planet. Why didn't you mention something that awesome?"

Robin gave Cyborg the death stare. It didn't work though. Robots must be impervious to it or something. Any regular man would have been reduced to a puddle from sheer intimidation.

"Doesn't matter anymore," said the dejected hero. "Can't get there without a spaceship."

Robin kicked a machine fragment clear across the fallen bunker. He rested his hands in pockets and turned his back unto Cyborg. Cyborg tried to cheer the hero up.

"Hey, it could be worse," He paused to think of an example. "You could have just watched your entire livelihood be crushed to pieces."

"Yeah, but a livelihood can be rebuilt from the ashes. Did you think of that you bucket o'bolts?" Robin spat out the words. "What am I to do? I'm always going to have this failure hanging over me. Until the end, that is. When everything comes crashing down on us."

Robin kicked another machine fragment. It flew into the remnants of a red Ferrari; setting off the car's alarm.

_Bleep! Bleep!_

Cyborg spoke, though his soft words could hardly be heard over the alarm.

"Look dude, I really sorry. 'Bout everything."

Robin turned away again. There was deep silence between the two. Except, of course, for the unhalting screeches of the car alarm. Robin gazed blankly upon the ruined machines. A few minutes passed. Then Robin's eyes opened so wide that his mask could barely stretch enough to cover them. He looked back at Cyborg and asked.

"You said you were a mechanic, right?"

"Forget it, the spaceships are lightyears beyond repair."

Robin smirked. Cyborg had no idea what he was planning. This must be what Bruce feels when he talks to me, he thought.

"The parts still work fine though. You said yourself that you had some of your own spaceship designs; let's see them. There's an entire warehouse of parts for you to use."

Cyborg's human eye widened and the mechanical one zoomed out of focus. He rubbed the back of his chrome neck.

"Yeah about that... Um... Why should I do what you say? Who are you to give me orders?"

Robin grabbed Cyborg by the scruff of the neck. No small feat considering that he had to dig through Cyborg's metal exterior to get the grip.

"Listen dude, I'm Robin. The superhero. You heard the goddess. It is of the utmost importance that I fend off the foreign army. The earth demands that you secure me passage to the hostile planet. If you don't. We will die."

Cyborg held up his hands and kicked his feet. This 'Robin' guy had lifted him off the ground, with one hand!  
Cyborg examined Robin more closely. The costumed lunatic was certainly strong enough to be a hero.

"Well, I just don't dunno if it can really be done. I've never actually gotten around to trying building one of my designs yet."

Robin furrowed his brow and brought Cyborg closer. When they were eye to eye, he demanded.

"Repeat after me, my name is robo-dude."

"Can I have a better name?" Interrupted Cyborg. This drew a stern response from Robin and Cyborg made a mental note to never interrupt the hero again.

"Fine, my name is Cyborg."

"My name is Cyborg.

"I will build a spaceship for Robin, who is an equal to Batman.

"I will build a spaceship for Robin, who needs anger management."

"And I will have it done by the end of the week."

"And I will have it done by the end of the week."

"Understood?"

"Understood!"


	3. Chapter 3

Have you ever been to heaven? If not I'd highly recommend it. It's a great place. The layout is similar to Rome, only heaven is situated among clouds on the top of a high plateau. But other than that they're exactly the same. In fact, if you haven't yet, then you should definitely go and visit one of the two places before you die.

Anyways, life had been rather uneventful in heaven that day: The usual gods wreaked vengeance on each other. A couple thousand demons were smited for disrespect, blasphemy, and corrupting the mortals. And the Chief God was still busy dealing with some countless number of fiends from the underworld.  
Same old, same old.

So when Terra returned there, she was greeted warmly by her fellow goddesses. As soon as she stepped foot on the holy land, she was surrounded by a group of gossips who longed to hear the latest news about the world of mortals. She rushed past them and made her way to the grand cathedral. The Chief God was scheduled to return to the battlefield soon and Terra wanted a conference with the god before he left.

Now it was well known among the immortals that the Chief God was not the most restrained of husbands. There was a time when each new day brought forth a new rumor about who he fancied. These rumors, which were usually correct, accused of him of courting over seventy goddesses, several mortals, and even a demoness at one time. The Chief God has since become more chaste and has limited his affairs to one goddess. Some of the immortals snickered at her as she ran to meet him, others felt sorry for Terra, but the overall sentiment was that the young goddess would have her heart broken by the Chief God.

Terra wore a hopeful smile when she raced through the Cathedral doors, but her heart sank when she looked up at the altar. The Chief God was already speaking with someone. Terra dived behind one of the pews and stealthily glanced at the pair on the altar. Neither of them seemed to notice Terra's entrance. The earth goddess immediately recognized the Chief God by his green skin and feathery headdress, but his cloaked companion was unknown to her. Terra strained her ears to hear their whispered words.

"... Why not? ... These immortals share an unhealthy fear of you... They will obey..."

"Please do not make this decision harder for me Raven... It is my duty to ensure that none interfere in the mortal world... I cannot allow you to ignite a war between the two planets... I already had to send one of my most trusted vassals to undo what you have started."

"If you try to stop me then I will attack you too... I know how weak you have become... You will fear me as much as you fear my father-"

"I have heard enough about your father!"

Terra shivered when she heard the Chief God raise his voice. She had never seen the Chief God lose his temper before. His thundering voice shook the room and there was throbbing vein on his forehead. Terra shrunk behind her hiding spot, but 'Raven', the cloaked girl, stood with resolve as the Chief's yelling continued.

"I tried my best to defeat him. Do not despise me because I could not free you. It is terrible of you to start a war to fulfill your personal vendetta. I will not allow it."

"If that is where you stand then I have nothing more to say. Garfield, you may call yourself the Beastking and the Chief God, but you no longer deserve those titles. Our next meeting shall be on the battlefield."

Terra peeped her eyes over the pew to see Raven storming out of the cathedral. She ducked down again when the demoness glanced her way.

"Wait," cried out the Beastking. "Think it over before you do anything rash. Remember this, I do not wish to fight you. I loved you once. Do not forget our past as you make plans to get your revenge."

"Your feelings were never returned. I am a demon. A god's passion becomes love, a demon's becomes only hate."  
Raven was about to say something more but decided against it. Instead she turned and left that Grand Cathedral; never to enter it again.

The Chief God looked at the now empty Cathedral and announced. "You may show yourself now Terra."

Terra sheepishly came out of her hiding spot and trudged over to the Beastking. Weary glances were exchanged when the two immortals met on the altar. An awkward silence filled the air until Terra finally spoke up.

"So... She is the one who intends to start a war with us."

The Beastking gave the sigh of an old man who is filled with regrets. He had partaken in many wars in the past and they have taken their toll on him. Garfield was exhausted. Another war would certainly lead to his downfall.

"Yes," He said slowly. "We must not allow her to bring about another war."

"But she wants to interfere with the mortals! It is our responsibility stop her!"

"You are wrong Terra. She wants to anger us into fighting her. We shall not be fooled by her childish games. We'll ignore whatever it is she plans to do. If she gets no response, then she will stop on her own accord."


End file.
